RJ Reports:
We motored into Hydra (pronounced EE-drah) at 11 o'clock in the afternoon to see an extremely tiny marina with boats filling up all but a few spots. We heard stories of this place; of how you had to med moor to the quay and to other boats and everyone's anchors got tangled up and caused havoc around the whole harbor. Thankfully, we had no trouble when we dropped our anchor and backed up into one of the few available spots. However, there was an enormous amount of litter in the water, and my liking for this place grew less and less.

But there was a good reason we came to this location. The whole island of Hydra outlawed all motorized vehicles, and the only way everyone gets around and carries heavy objects is by donkey. This interesting lifestyle is a great way to have clean air, as well as being a huge tourist attraction. Besides this, the small island has interesting history. It has the amazing total of five prime ministers of Greece come from it as well as many great sea captains, including Andreas Mioulis. He invented the "fireship" which was a ship set on fire and sailed into enemy lines, setting them on fire as well.

We took a short self-guided tour of the island and settled back on the boat. The next day, more and more boats piled into the already cramped marina and they had to med moor in front of other boats to get a spot. Soon, boats surrounded us on all sides. Luckily, the boat in front of us left early next morning and we were able to get out without getting our anchor tangled up and, after a short rest at another Hydra anchorage, we set off to our next island.
Photos here